Tamil Nadu Premier League seeks SC nod to snub Vinod Rai-led panel’s ruling

The fate of 16 outstation players who signed up to play this year’s Tamil Nadu Premier League will be decided by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. On Monday, the organisers of TNPL have filed an application urging the apex court to quash a ruling from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) that does not allow players from outside Tamil Nadu play the third edition of TNPL from July 11 to August 22.

On July 4, the Supreme Court-appointed CoA ruled that T20 tournaments conducted by state associations should be restricted to players “who are registered with the staging association and qualify to represent the said staging association for the purpose of BCCI domestic tournaments.” TNPL organisers are challenging this.

TNPL organisers say they invited outstation players as per resolution taken by the BCCI’s Special General Meeting on June 22. According to the CoA, the SGM was illegal and resolutions taken there have no bearing.

A senior official in the know of things said: “The CoA wants to stop the proliferation of T20 leagues and is against players freely playing these tournaments in return for money. It will finally kill the Ranji Trophy format in the long run. Even the ICC is against too much T20 cricket.”

The Supreme Court verdict on the TNPL matter will be watched very closely as the CoA has already received a setback when on July 5, Chief Justice Dipak Misra’s bench agreed to reconsider clauses related to age, tenure and membership that were part of Justice RM Lodha’s recommendations to reform the BCCI constitution.